Merry Christmas, y'all! Hope your day and season has been splendid and that you have been able to feel the joy of Christ's birth. He gives me hope!

This has been one of the more fun weeks of my mission, and somehow being on bikes was a part of that!

By way of explanation, our car had been dented pretty good before I got to Conway, and our appointment at the collision repair place was from the 18th through the 22nd. So, for those few days, we were on bikes!


Additional background information: on transfer day, I left my bike in the mission office because we were hosting 2 other missionaries for the next few days and there wasn't room in the car to bring it. When we dropped them off later in the week, I forgot to grab it. Well... it had been given away to another missionary. Thankfully, I was able to get it back after one of the many meetings we had last week. When I braced myself for the cold misery that is riding a bike in the Arkansas winter, I quickly realized that my bike seat had been adjusted a little higher, and that something was up with my gears. (It won't go into the 3rd gear on the left handlebar? Idk if that's the right terminology or whatever). Which, at first was very annoying. And then it became very humbling, because... Biking had become easy. Either this week was a miracle and angels were peddling for me, or... I just needed to raise the seat of my bike a little bit.

Whatever it is! Biking without my legs dying made it a lot more enjoyable! We started out pretty close to our apartment, just knocking doors. Didn't really find anyone interested, but it's like that sometimes. (Read: a lot of the time.)

One of our investigators texted us out of the blue asking how we were doing. How cool! We had a brief, nice conversation about our day so far, and then they asked if they could borrow $200 and pay us back haha. Sooo that was fun. And then the investigator in that neighborhood we were waiting to see canceled our appointment.

After that exchange, the overcast sky gave way to sprinkling rain. It didn't stop until like 8:00 that night. It was just sprinkling most of the day, but there were some times when it was pouring.

While we were close to the apartment, Elder Evans and I biked back. He changed his shoes, cause the ones he wore that morning were soaked through and went from a tan color to a wet cardboard color haha. We put our clothes in the dryer and tried again!

This time we went across town, and it was raining pretty good. The sidewalks were covered in puddles, and there was just no way to avoid getting completely soaked. The spinning tires of the bike are always misting your front and back, and puddle splashes get your legs pretty good. But the good thing about being soaked, is once you're soaked, you can't really get any MORE soaked. :)

We locked up our bikes and walked into a trailer park. I guess the sister missionaries aren't supposed to be there at night or on bikes. But as we were walking, a member driving by with the sisters in her car passed us. They had a lesson with someone in there, too haha.

Ours was with a less active member who has been coming to church more regularly lately. He's a sharply dressed older black gentleman, who is renting out a single room of the double wide. He had had some questions about life after death following a lesson in sundsy school. We gave him the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and started to teach him, but before long he had effectively told us to be quiet and he just mumble-read the pamphlet to himself while Elder Evans and I looked around at his room and at each other. He would ask a question about a word here and there, and would nod along every once in a while. I guess that's what they call "teaching by the spirit"? We didn't have to do much, but he thanked us and was happy about it all making sense now! It was a pretty cool experience, even if it was a little weird haha.

We biked back across town and it was dark, now. We try to stay on he sidewalks, because I don't trust drivers, and my bike is the only one with lights right now. But man, the sidewalks are just awful haha. Tree roots have busted a bunch of them, and there often aren't "dips" to get onto and off of the road from the sidewalk. So pretty often you'll have to hard fall on the road or brake and lift the bike onto the sidewalk again haha. So while we were doing this and bumping along, it was dark and raining, and thankfully not too cold. But it was actually pretty fun. Like mountain biking almost!

We met some members at Stoby's, a Conway specialty restaurant, that I wasn't terribly impressed with. But from there, the member drove us out of town a bit and joined us for a lesson with that guy who wants to go to the Temple! (He came to church this week, yay! Such a cool guy!)

Sometime during that lesson, it stopped raining. But our bikes were back at Stoby's. So the member dropped us off back there and then we biked home at like 8:30 from Stoby's. 

And that's just Tuesday!

Wednesday was our mission Christmas party, which was pretty fun! We got there early and helped set up, and move all the presents from missionaries' parents to the gym from the mission office. It was like Santa's workshop in there! We spent the morning playing games and doing a white elephant gift exchange. Then in the afternoon, we watched the movie The Testaments, which (though pretty cheesy) was also really good. 

People before Christ had to have the faith to look forward to His coming. They had to hope that the Savior would come to allow them forgiveness for their sins. (Mosiah 3:13) Now, we know he has come! We get to live knowing that the atonement has been performed for us. We just have to have the faith to use it. 

After that, we had a testimony meeting that was supposed to be 35 mins long, but went for an hour and half. President was going to instruct, but he had to save it for another time, which was kind of too bad. But the testimony meeting was good, too.

President shared the exciting news that we will be having an entire mission conference in late January, because... (dun dun dun dunnn!) one of the apostles will be visiting! We don't know who yet, but I'm excited. That's a sweet Christmas present.

After the party, we hurried back to Conway for dinner at Don Pepe's (kinda like a hole in the wall chipotle) with some members. The mother is from Peru I think, and her mother is Italian (and doesn't know a lot of English). She has an 8 year old son, and the dynamic between those three is pretty funny. The son was snitching on his grandma for driving 80mph to get to Wal-Mart, and his mom wouldn't believe him. Then the grandma admitted to it, and the son said something about her being old, to which she responded in spanish: "your pants are old!" Elder Evans and I lost it haha. 

And, since we were dropped off to dinner, we walked the 4.4 miles back to our apartment from Don Pepe's. We ended up getting home right at curfew haha. Thankfully, it was actually gorgeous outside! Like high 50s, low 60s, even at night. And no rain!

As we were walking back, a member texted us saying he was moving and he had a little keyboard that we could have if we wanted. He lived in our apartment complex so we stopped by and he let us take his piano keyboard, and sent us with groceries, too. There was a bottle of balsamic vinegar in there and that made me very happy. Merry Christmas from the Lord! He's definitely looking out for me.

The next day was a beautiful day to bike! Again like high 50s. It started out kinda cold, but we actually took off our sweaters later in the day. That night for dinner, the members made us gumbo. Homemade gumbo, and it was very yummalicious. Chicken, shrimp, and sausage in that yumminess. 

And then it rained again! Thankfully, our car got finished earlier in the day than we were expecting. So after weekly planning, our ward mission leader drove us to the collision repair center and we got the car! Yay!

We had dinner w someone Elder Evans baptized last transfer, this cool Indian guy named Prashanth. We went to Tacos for Life, which (on top of being very good) was also playing the Idaho Potato Bowl game. I don't know much about football, and I don't remember who was even playing, but I can recognize that Boise Smurf turf anywhere! :)

That night, we picked up cookie dough from Wal-Mart to bake for Christmas eve caroling. I saw a cookies n cream flavored cookie dough, and thought we'd give it a try. We got other dough for everyone else. Well, it turns out Hershey's Cookies N Cream Cookie Dough is not very good. So that was a bummer. 2/10, would not recommend.

After that failed experiment, Elder Evans and I made a nativity puppet show /silly sketch with some puppets my mom sent me. It ended up being pretty dumb, but in the kind of way that is also kinda funny. I'll see if I can attach that somehow.

On Friday, we did a day exchange with the elders in the 2nd Ward. I was with Elder Clayton in their ward boundaries, biking around again cause they are a full-bike area. Got to visit with a few members there. We were going to have a dinner appointment a half hour drive away, but the member called and said he was bringing food to us instead. Which worked out, because literally just a minute or two later, the 2nd ward sister missionaries called and one of them needed a blessing cause she was feeling sick. But we needed a member with us to be able to be in their apartment. Thankfully, the member dropping off dinner was available, so within 10-15 minutes we were able to be there. She said her naseated feeling went away after the blessing. How cool that the Lord provided a way for us to very quickly be able to give her a blessing, when our original plans would have put us pretty far away. Things just seem to work out right in the mission field.

After exchanges, Elder Evans and I wrote a Jingle Bells "remish," or a missionary remix/parody to the tune of Jingle Bells. It ended up being... very awesome. I'll try to remember to include the lyrics at the bottom.

On Christmas Eve, both the 1st and 2nd wards combined for one sacrament meeting at 10:00. Afterwards, the other Elders in our area joined us to practice our "Remish." I played piano, knocked, and shouted "go away!" during the chorus. We went over to the Routts, a really great family here who hosted 5 companionships of missionaries in the Conway area. We had an awesome lunch and then went caroling in their neighborhood, played Bean Boozled (I gagged a few times) and laughed a lot. We got a bunch of Brother Routt shirts. (Shirts w/ Bro. Routt's face on them. Yup.)

After our dinner for the night, we went caroling again with most of the same missionaries as earlier. Not a lot of people were home though, haha. But the ones who were appreciated it!

I slept really well last night haha. Had a strange morning, opening presents in our apartment with Elder Evans. Went to the Routt's for breakfast which was fun again, but Elder Evans and I were the only missionaries this time. We got called out early, though, because the sisters locked their keys in the church building haha. 

And now we are caught up to this moment! A few of us missionaries are chilling in the church. I've finally finished this long email.

Thanks for reading my emails, and thanks for the cards and notes! Those were probably my favorite presents! I hope you've had an awesome Christmas!

Love, rains, and candy canes!
Elder Dahl


oliver.dahl@myldsmail.net

3080 Pebble Beach Rd, apt. #1
Conway, Arkansas 72034


This weekly email brought to you by:
Arkansas rain
Your tax dollars, which are going towards everything but fixing the sidewalks
Don Pepe's
The ghost of Christmas past
And readers like you, thank you!



Our irreverent nativity video:
https://youtu.be/uPNNRnuUmC0




PICTURES:

1. Zone selfie!
2. The Conway Zone, woooo!!!
3. Merry Christmas!
4. My one grungy artsy photo for the week
5. That time when the pamphlet (and the spirit) taught the lesson



https://youtu.be/_QqxuCc5Yyg

Jingle Bless "Remish" lyrics:

Biking in the rain,
Getting doors slammed in my face
Got called to Arkansas,
Where even is this place?

I left for two whole years
to preach the gospel from my mouth,
now I'm here bible-bashing
with a preacher in the south!

[Chorus]
Oh!
Ding-dong bells, Ding-dong bells,
Ding-dong (GO AWAY!)
Oh what fun it is to tract on this cold and dreary day, hey!
(x2)

My companion goes home soon,
he's been acting a bit funky.
He keeps talking to the sisters
I think he's getting trunky!

Don't call us the JW's
We don't do polygamy
You might think we're a little weird
'cause we don't drink coffee or tea!

[Chorus]

We're always together,
I wonder if they think we're gay
as we hit the streets
knocking all the way. [knock knock knock]

I wanted to go home,
but I'm so glad I tarried
I got a letter from my girl,
she says she's getting mar... [crestfallen silence]

[Chorus]

Well hello again! Can you believe next week is Christmas? Because I can't believe next week is Christmas. But this isn't about next week. This is about last week.

Last week recap, here we go:

As a Zone Leader, I kinda figured there would be meetings. Even a lot of meetings. But this week had an unusually large amount of meetings, even for some of the veteran Zone Leaders. We had a Mission Leadership Council meeting (for ZLs and Sister Training Leaders) on Tuesday AND Friday, plus a Zone Conference (with everybody on the Arkansas side of the mission) on Thursday.

The 1st MLC, (the one on Tuesday) was in Memphis, actually. So we got up at like 5AM to get ready and drive to North Little Rock, where we then rode in a transport van the 2.5-3hr drive to Memphis. Man, I can't get away from that place. (Which is OK with me because I kinda like Memphis!) On the drive there, I lucked out with a bucket seat, but the luck wore off on the drive home. I got sandwiched w/ 3 other elders in the back seat, and somehow my arms were sore by the end of it haha. But the meeting was awesome. We talked about finding through Family History, and there was a lot of emphasis on teaching by the spirit, and receiving revelation. During a "real play" (a role play, but... for real) they had us pray about a specific investigator and what we could do to help them. We all kneeled on the ground in the church room, and then went on to plan. It wasn't til President Hansen pointed it out that I realized how awesome that was. Like yeah, we got some good ideas for how to help one of our investigators, but... that was a room full of kids learning to receive revelation from God. What an awesome skill to have, that not a lot of people are seeking to develop. God wants to talk to us, and help us fulfill His work, we just have to get good at asking and listening!

Anyway! All these meetings were about exciting stuff! Plus, on top of being one of the 12 pilot missions with smart phones at the moment, the church will also be testing a new referral system on us. They'll be putting out a lot of ads on Google and specific search results (like "What is the purpose of life? How can I know God? etc., within our mission's zip codes) so that when people click on them, they can begin being taught by missionaries in a visitor center somewhere. After they have been taught for a little bit, they will then be referred to us in the field, as investigators who already have some background info and interest! It's supposed to multiply our current number of referrals by 3-5x, and add 100 baptisms to the mission next year. So... we are on board! :)

On Wednesday, most of our Zone got together and we blitzed our area for the sister missionaries serving with us. They've been struggling to find people the past few transfers, and by the end of an hour, we had 5 new potential investigators for them! It was pretty fun. We got a lot of rejections in that hour, and even a frustrating argument with one guy, but the last door we knocked on (and isn't it always the last door?) a nice lady warmly accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and a return visit! Yay!

That evening, we met with a less active member who wants to become more active and be able to attend the temple! What an awesome goal! It's so awesome seeing people want to change and grow closer to God. It's refreshing after so many people express their contentment and disinterest.

Then came Thursday! We had our Zone Conference and that was fun. I'm used to going to the Memphis-Side ones, so there were a lot of unfamiliar faces. But also a few familiar faces! It was good to see some people who had been transferred over to Arkansas before I had been again! The focus for this Zone Conference was teaching skills, and especially teaching to needs. This idea was reinforced in the 2nd MLC the next day. We have these 5 lessons that we kinda like to jump into teaching as soon as we can. But some great advice we received from Bro. Donaldson, who works for the church's missionary team, was to abandon the structured lessons and just connect with people and teach what comes up, when it is relevant, and when prompted by the spirit. It is definitely a challenging mindset change. But we got plenty of time to practice that during the rest of the week!

After that MLC and some fun discussions w/ Bro. Donaldson, Elder Evans and I had interviews with President Hansen. (These happen once a transfer just so he can check up on us and give us advice, etc.) President Hansen is so awesome!

We got back to Conway and used a BOGO Free coupon at this make-your-own-pizza place that was pretty good. Then we went to deliver a Bible to a Bible referral and ended up chatting with that guy for like an hour. Interesting fella. He knew his Bible really well, and actually started quoting a bunch of scriptures that WE usually use in our lessons! We resisted our impulses to just jump into teaching, and we let him do most of the talking. It was really weird! But it ended up being awesome. He said we could come back, and now we know exactly what we will share next time!

On Saturday, we got to practice our listening skills on some more talkative people haha! We chatted with this one guy on his porch for a solid 45 minutes. He talked about how he was losing hope in God after his attempts to "make it big" in Basketball. So he joined some ministry thing and gave his time to God, and things turned around! Through that ministry, he was drafted and he showed us a few newspapers with him on the front page. Cool how that works.

That afternoon, we went to visit a potential investigator, planning to spend about thirty minutes there. 30 mins turned into 2 hours. Really, just of us playing psychiatrist for the guy. He's going through a lot, and you would never be able to tell meeting with him. As we listened without really interrupting, or jumping into teaching, the perfect opportunity to introduce the Book of Mormon arrived. He told us that he hoped he could say that in a few months, this changed his life. (We are hoping so, too!)

From there we arrived late to an Elders Quorum activity, but that was ok cause there were like 8 people there. (And it was supposed to be a joint ward thing!) They were watching Star Wars and having pizza, but it looked like most everyone took the pizza and dipped. When we went in to grab some pizza, one of the guys said that his mom's mission president let her go to the theaters and watch Star Wars when it came out, because of the "lessons on Good vs. Evil," etc. So... we stayed and watched it, too. KIDDING! We did what everyone else did: grab pizza and dip. We microwaved it in the kitchen and just chatted in there for a while before going to try visiting some other folks.

Then it was Sunday again already! Church was good, and we got home and warmed up leftover Little Caesars again for lunch. Walked around a cool part of town that reminded me a little bit of Boise's North End, and got to chatting with this cool hipstery guy writing a book on Masculinity haha. Cool dude.

We then drove downtown and met our whole zone at this festive little square there with a giant Christmas tree and a ferris wheel! The plan was to go caroling, but there were about 3 people there for most of that time. So we went to Walmart and caroled outside the doors. It was pretty fun, and I needed (and I think maybe improved from!) the singing practice, but I dunno how good we sounded hahaha. During "Angels We Have Heard on High" in the "gloooooooooria" part, it just sounded like a bunch of us moaning hahaha. Thankfully the sisters helped. :)

As we were singing, a few of us noticed this guy who walked out doing sign language. We pointed it out to two of the ASL sister missionaries and they ran after him! They brought him back and signed "Silent Night" for him and they talked for a good while! It's pretty cool to watch. I was proud of our Zone. A few people took photos/videos of us caroling and all, but that was the highlight for me. This deaf guy being able to "hear" us caroling thanks to some awesome sister missionaries! (2 Nephi 27:29-30)

So yeah, our Zone is pretty awesome. We've got a pretty stellar group of missionaries.

And now it's today! I got a haircut from some members in the other ward. I guess they have a relative that works for Mars, so they had some experimental/unreleased candy there. (Including espresso m&ms and snickers, and "Sweet Heat" skittles & starbursts.) I only got around to trying the Sweet Heat skittles and those were weird. But... I have to admit they were also kinda good.

Elder Bingham called this morning, too! Sounds like things in Collierville are still kinda slow, but they've had some awesome stuff, happen! I'm proud of those guys. Sweet is the work!

Next week is Christmas, whaaa?!!?

Love you all!! Thanks so much for reading these and for all your support and stuff. It means a lot! Merry Christmas! Talk to y'all on the 25th!
​
Elder Dahl

It's been a week of change! Conway, Arkansas is a different place than Collierville, that's for sure. I miss a lot about Collierville, but... We actually taught people this week!

Conway: With a population of nearly 60,000 people, this central Arkansas town is known as the "City of Colleges," the largest of which being University of Central Arkansas.

There are 4 sets of missionaries here, 2 over each of the 2 wards. I'm in the Conway 1st Ward, after coming from the Collierville 1st Ward. "Co.1"

Elder Evans and I have been having some good times. There have been several doors where we have had to take a deep breath and wipe tears from our eyes before knocking. (Only cause we were laughing so hard, don't worry!)

But before it was just Elder Evans and I, we were in a quadpanionship again. Elders Webb and Hall stayed with us Monday through Thursday morning, in our kinda small apartment with one bathroom. Using all four stovetops at once got a little crazy, too.

Our first night, we followed the Light the World initiative's service idea to love our neighbors. We baked cookies and delivered them to our neighbors in the apartment building. We knocked on 4 doors. One wasn't home, but all 3 of the others welcomed all four of us in and we were able to share the video with them and come to feel like friends. 

That same night we chatted for a while and shared lesson 1 with a guy on his doorstep. Apparently he had had Pres. Eyring as a professor back in the day. The guy wasn't a member, but he told us when he heard the news that Pres. Eyring had been selected an apostle, he was like, "they couldn't have picked a better guy." Cool stuff. 

Thankfully, it wasn't always the four of us, we split into pairs quite a bit and tracted a lot, and found some cool people. One night, we went downtown and street contacted people by the big christmas tree and ferris wheel they have set up. That was pretty fun, and we got to show the Light the World video with a bunch of people again.

We also visited a lady that one of the visiting missionaries had taught in a previous area. She and her 6 kids (from a few different fathers, 2 of which got out of prison recently) were a handful, and their trailer had low ceilings originally built for a guy with a wheelchair. It was a big change from Collierville, for sure. But even with the flies buzzing and dogs barking, it was really fun. The kids gave us hugs and welcomed us right in.

We had a few teaching appointments this week, and just wow! Open minded, friendly people, who hear us out! It feels like a totally different mission over here. I did get like really yelled at for the first time, too, but if one of those every so often is the price to pay to get more people to teach, I'll take it!

We also got to go blitz with 3 other areas this week. One of the fun perks of zone leadership. So I got to go knock some doors in the Conway 2nd area, North Little Rock, and in Choctaw. (Where we had the best dang chili I've ever had, out of this member's shady looking BBQ truck called "Mo' Betah" ["more better" for those of you who need the translation) We also chatted for s good 20 minutes with this guy who had gotten a free Book of Mormon years ago at a flea market. He wasn't interested, but he was nice, and a pretty funny guy. He's a 6th generation Arkansasan. Arkansasian?

On Sunday, we got roped into being a part of the like 12 member choir in sacrament meeting. I think my singing has actually improved a bit since the start of my mission. (Which, granted, does not mean very much at all.)

And then today we went bowling as a zone and that was a lot of fun. I love my zone! We've got a dream team line up, and are gonna tear things up and give people some heaven this transfer. Viva la Conway Zone!

This next week, we have a bunch of meetings lined up! Which I'm actually kinda excited for. Another ZL perk.

This week's email is a little short, but I hope it conveys how much I'm loving Conway so far! Good stuff is happening, better stuff is coming!

Sending love to ma from Arkansas
Elder Dahl

Christmas grams:
oliver.dahl@myldsmail.net 

Christmas jammies:
3080 Pebble Beach Rd, apt. 1
Conway, Arkansas 72034


This email brought to you by:

Elvis's rendition of "How Great Thou Art," aka my new mission theme song
David's Burgers: an Arkansas classic, providing burgers just as good as other pretty dang greasy burgers
Bowling scores under 80
and
Viewers like you! Thank you!

Well, well, well. After almost 6 months in Collierville, I've come to my last week! It was a good way to finish my time here. I'll miss the people a lot, but I'm also really excited to give the people of Arkansas some heaven.

But first, last week.

We had an AWESOME last P Day in Memphis. We went to Sun Studios and Central BBQ. So a good day "Walkin' in Memphis." Sun Studio is where Elvis first recorded and has hosted and recorded other artists like BB King, Johnny Cash, Def Leppard, U2, Maroon 5, Ringo Starr... It was pretty cool. World changing stuff happened in that little room. They also had a microphone in there donated by one of the bigger artists that recorded there. Apparently it's the same one that all those OG Artists would've used. So... had to get a picture with that.

Apparently it took Elvis trying and trying to get the owner to agree to record him again, so there was a good lesson on persistence mixed in there with the good ole rock n roll that was in my head all week, too. "Rocket 88," man.

The next day, we unburied a big box from my closet full of Christmas stuff from past missionaries and decked the halls of our apartment with lights, wreaths, and like 4 mini Christmas trees. Making things festive up in there. 

We then walked a few miles into the downtown for the Christmas tree lighting that was happening that evening. On the way, some members passed us and returned with burgers and fries from Sonic. Whaa? We're so spoiled here.

The Christmas Tree Lighting was good! We handed out a bunch of Light the World cards there and it started to sink in that it was Christmas time! That is, until the rest of the week was in the 60s degrees. It's been so gorgeous outside. I've barely even needed my jacket.  

Friday was a definite highlight for the week. We had the opportunity to hear from Elder Robbins in the morning, who is a President of one of the Quorums of the Seventy. (In other words, a pretty big wig haha) He talked a lot about different principles that apply in and outside of missionary work and the gospel. Things like accountability, goal setting, and handling relationships with love and high expectations. 

Afterwards, we got back to Collierville in time for the Collierville Christmas Parade, which was an amazing way to end my time in C-Ville. The wards had 2 floats in it: the JustServe.org one, and another for #LightTheWorld. As per parade rules, we weren't allowed to pass out cards or anything during the parade. (Not even candy, can you believe that?) BUT they didn't say anything ahout before the float. So while we were waiting to move and while other people were trying to find spots, we handed out a LOT of cards. Planting seeds.

It seemed like the whole town showed up for this parade, there were so many people. I felt more strongly than usual how much each of those people needed the gospel, and I wanted to just teach them all! But I'll leave that up to Elder Bingham and Elder Barney. :)


The next day, we were able to help the Gaars out at their new house, and tried a BBQ place I hadn't been to before. We found out the reason I hadn't been there until this right time, too. The owner was there, and when he saw my Book of Mormon on the table, he told us he had read it and the Pearl of Great Price before. Whoa! Hopefully seeing us made him think back on some of the things he had read. Planting seeds again!

Most of the rest of the day was spent making tamales with Bro. Boggs. From scratch. I had no idea it would be such a long process. But we did it, and they even tasted really good!

The Blender Blunder: in which I was removing blended peppers from a blender and went to twist/unhook the blender jar from the blender device, and instead removed the entire jar from the blender and spilled pepper sauce like a volcano eruption all over the blender. This incident was made more embarrassing by the fact that I didn't need to unlatch the jar at all, all I had to do was just pick it straight up. Thankfully, Bro. Boggs was able to find the humor in this, and didn't even tell the sister missionaries when they joined us for dinner haha. Adulting is still hard sometimes. Elder Dahl: 0, Blender: 1

Yesterday was Fast Sunday, and it was really good. Lots of awesome testimonies shared from some of my new favorite people in the world. Wendy, our like 1 and only investigator, went up and shared a beautiful testimony, almost 3 months to the day after the day she first called us. It's been so awesome to have a kind of front row seat to her progression. She's awesome! I'll miss the Collierville area and the people in it a lot!

After church, we said goodbye to a few more people. Bro. Jacobs, who just got back from a trip to China, brought Elder Bingham and I gifts back from his time there! I got a porcelain pen and a cool bookmark. There were some hard goodbyes, but I know somehow, someday, I'll make sure to see everyone again! Ideally in October for Wendy's baptism. :)

Well. I'm writing this email in the small backseat of the pickup truck hauling everybody's stuff from Memphis to Little Rock. I'm getting transferred to Conway, Arkansas, and I'll be the Jr. Companion Zone Leader there after 6 months in one area. Yikes. I'm super duper stoked out of my mind, though. My new companion is Elder Evans, who I served with in Conway as a part of that quadpanionship I was in for like 2 days a few months ago. We are gonna tear it up and have so much fun.

I'm excited to meet more of my future favorite people in the world! Arkansas here I come!!

Love, peace, and chicken grease!
Elder Dahl 


SAME email address:
oliver.dahl@myldsmail.net

NEW address:
3080 Pebble Beach Rd, apt. 1
Conway, Arkansas 72034